Articles by Andrew Sharpless

Global warming sheds light on uncharted frontier

Captain Kirk said that space is the final frontier. But scientists studying marine life throughout a newly revealed portion of the Antarctic sea floor, which had been buried under solid ice for the last five millennia before global warming kicked in, beg to differ.

The collapse of two ice shelves on the eastern shore of Antarctica has exposed a Jamaica-sized section of sea floor teeming with thousands of species of marine life, including 30 believed to be completely new to science.

New Zealand fishermen nab largest squid in the history of the world

Its eyes are the size of dinner plates; its tentacles, large enough to fashion tractor wheel-sized calamari rings. It stretches longer than a semi-truck, weighs more than a Harley, and glides effortlessly throughout the darkest depths of the Antarctic waters, using razor sharp hooks to gobble up the unlucky that fall into its path.

This is not the tale of a fabled sea monster or an excerpt from a Herman Melville classic. This is the true story of a colossal catch netted by New Zealand fishermen earlier this month. It took two hours to land what is presumably the largest and only mature male specimen of a colossal squid -- a rare find indeed.

Chlorine plants receive polluting awards

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a spray-painted pregnant mannequin bestowed to uncomfortable chlor-alkalai chlorine plant executives ...

Five days before the Oscars, Oceana announced the winners of the inaugural Masters of Making Mercury in the Environment (MOMMIE) Awards, celebrating America's chlorine plants for outstanding achievement in the field of poisoning our tuna fish sandwiches. In 2004, the FDA advised women who might become pregnant, women who are pregnant, nursing mothers and young children to limit their consumption of certain types of seafood to prevent mercury contamination.

Most people remain unaware that a small subset of the chlorine industry makes a major -- and completely preventable -- contribution to the global mercury crisis. Oceana has been working to convince nine chlorine companies to go mercury free since early 2005. Of these "naughty nine," four plants have stopped using the outdated technology.

Read all about an awards moment that was even more uncomfortable than David Letterman's ill-fated "Uma ... Oprah ... Oprah ... Uma" monologue.

Dead sea turtles wash ashore

We've heard of whale beachings before, but it seems as though endangered sea turtles have recently followed suit. Hundreds of olive ridley turtles have been found dead along Bangladesh's coast in the past two weeks. Could it be something in the water? Yes. Most likely pollution and nets.